


step out into the light

by twilighteve



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017), PKNA - Paperinik New Adventures
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Donald Duck is the Duck Avenger, Gen, Identity Reveal, bodily injury, donald has some impish prankster tendencies but it doesn't really show much, drake is upset for his friend, fenton needs confidence boost, launchpad is a ray of sunshine like usual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:40:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27249682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilighteve/pseuds/twilighteve
Summary: It happened in a dark and stormy night, because of course it did. All the dramatic things always did, and Fenton hated it for it.Fenton stepped up as Gizmoduck and fought crimes in Duckburg, continuing what Paperinik once did for the city that held no gratefulness for him.And then Paperinik came back.
Comments: 16
Kudos: 163
Collections: Finished111





	step out into the light

Fenton was young when he first saw the Duck Avenger fight. He had never been able to forget that day.

The Duck Avenger was a blur of black, red, and blue, the white of his feathers practically unseen under the suit he was wearing and the cape that followed his moves. His moves were measured and deadly, and he manipulated his so-called X-Transformer with an ease of a limb he’d been wearing since birth. The way he fought the purple aliens stole Fenton’s breath away.

And then one of said aliens grabbed him by the scruff of his collar, and his breath was truly stolen away.

Not for long. The Duck Avenger was there in an instant, punching and kicking like a naval hurricane, sweeping Fenton in its waves and leaving him breathless and in awe.

Duck Avenger looked around, eyes sharp, and relaxed. When he looked down to meet Fenton’s eyes, he almost seemed like a different person altogether.

“Well, I think that’s the last of them,” he said, his voice a soothing baritone that seeped tension away from Fenton’s shoulders – though, for some reason, it didn’t seem to fit him. “Are you okay, kid?”

Fenton blinked. “I, um.”

Duck Avenger knelt in front of him, humming as he reached out to Fenton. When Fenton didn’t back away, he gently lifted his chin and pushed him around to examine him. “Well, you’re not hurt,” he declared at last. “So that’s a good thing, at least.” He put his hands on Fenton’s shoulders and looked at him in the eyes. “So. Are you okay? I think you should go home now.”

“I’m not hurt,” Fenton said, dumbly. He resisted the urge to smack himself; the Duck Avenger already said that.

“I meant more like… are you alright? Are you still scared, tired, anything?” the Duck Avenger elaborated patiently.

“Oh.” Fenton looked at his fingers and clenched his hands. “I’m not sure? I’m… still kind of scared. I think.”

The Duck Avenger hummed again, looking around once more. “Well, tell you what? It’s kind of late for you to run around right now, and it’s dangerous to be alone at night. What about I walk you home?”

Fenton perked up and said yes immediately.

M’ma reached home about five minutes before them, apparently somehow managing to avoid hearing about the alien attack when she went home from her shift in the station. She looked shocked when she saw her son, who said he was going to the library for extra reading, riding on the Duck Avenger’s shoulders as he chattered to the hero-slash-prankster who was listening intently.

When Duck Avenger put Fenton down, M’ma leaned to the doorframe and stared Duck Avenger down. “You know, some people in the precinct thinks you’re a menace. We have orders to capture you,” she remarked.

Duck Avenger laughed, but it sounded off, like he was bitter about something. “And what are you going to do about it, Ma’am?” he asked in challenge.

M’ma shrugged. “Nothing. But I would like to thank the young man who brought my son home.” She glanced at Fenton and nudged him inside. “Come in, _pollito_ , go brush your teeth and get ready for bed.”

“Ma, you’re embarrassing me in front of the Avenger,” Fenton whined, though he complied. He turned to Duck Avenger before he got inside. “Um, thank you for saving me from the aliens, Mr. Avenger.”

“It’s no problem, kiddo,” Duck Avenger said. “And call me Paperinik, PK for short.”

As Fenton slipped inside, M’ma offered, “Okay, PK. We have some snacks inside if you want some.”

“Thanks but no, thanks. I still got patrol to do.” He took a step back and glanced hesitantly at M’ma. “But, um… I know you people don’t really like me, and the media pretty much slanders me every time I’m on TV, but… be safe, okay? I know you’re a cop but if you see weird purple people, just run. They’re actual aliens and they’re super dangerous.”

M’ma tilted her head in the way she always did when she was doing her mental calculation on something. “Well, you can’t be older than twenty and you’re fighting them. It can’t be that hard.”

Duck Avenger – Paperinik – winced. “I know it looks that way, but trust me when I say I always have help. Without that help I won’t be able to fight the aliens. Other people are really not well equipped for battling them.”

M’ma sighed. “We’ll see about that.” She paused. “Are you sure you don’t want anything? You _did_ help my son.”

Paperinik laughed. “I’ll be fine. Thanks for the offer.” He turned to the streets and started running, then veered to the rows of houses, jumping and landing easily on the rows of roof that he turned to his personal parkour field.

* * *

He spent the night recounting Paperinik’s heroics to M’ma until he practically passed out from exhaustion.

The next day the media talked about how Duck Avenger had people playing villains for him and speculate that the rising crimes and assault in the city was his doing. It was all Fenton could do to stop himself from crying, because Paperinik was good and he helped Fenton and the aliens were real. There was no way anyone with teeth _like that_ could be a normal person. Being an alien would explain that.

Fenton didn’t tell about how Paperinik saved him. He did, a little, but the onslaught of bullying that invited had M’ma tell him to stop. It felt like a betrayal; Paperinik was out there putting his life on the line to save these people and they called him a nuisance and laughed at him instead. Shouldn’t Fenton be standing up for him?

But there were glances and small smiles and reassuring nods from people who he never thought would have looked at him before. The popular girl who excelled in music whistled a tune whenever he walked past and offered him a smile – it was only later that he realized she whistled a quick D, then A. _Duck Avenger_. He would have thought it was just another insult, but the way her eyes glinted with understanding as she fiddled with the scar on her arm seemed too significant for that.

The senior who walked in and out of the physics lab like it was his second home nodded to him whenever they passed in the hallways, and he made sure to glare at anyone who laughed at Fenton and mocked his encounter with Paperinik.

The jock in the baseball team made the time to sit next to him in the bleachers during one cloudy afternoon, after his practice was done. Fenton had been watching, for once opting to watch sports instead of reading more science fiction, and it made him wary at first to see the boy approach, but he just sat and said nothing at first.

“You know, you’re not the only one who’s been saved by DA,” he said after a moment of silence.

Fenton blinked. “He said to call him Paperinik instead. PK for short,” he hedged.

The boy shrugged. “Sure. Here’s the thing, buddy. Some people really don’t like him. The media says he’s a menace, and they trust the media, so.”

“But he helps people. It’s not fair.”

“I know it’s not.” The boy shrugged. “But we know. Some people know. I guess that’s enough for him, since he keeps saving people anyway.”

It shouldn’t be enough, but the world just didn’t work that way.

* * *

Paperinik vanished one fateful night.

Everyone speculated that it was only a break, that he would appear again. He didn’t, and eventually the media clamor went down. Fenton couldn’t remember when he last saw M’ma so distressed, thinking about Paperinik and his fate.

Not that Fenton blamed her. He was worried, too. He thought back on how Paperinik walked him home that night, then effortlessly putting him on his shoulders when he started to get tired. He thought about the aliens he fought on the regular.

Had they gotten him at last?

The question went unanswered for years, and Fenton shelved it for other things in his life. But he never stopped wondering.

* * *

Against all odds, he was hired as an intern for Dr. Gyro Gearloose, Scrooge McDuck’s top scientist.

Against all odds, he ended up donning the Gizmoduck armor and took the mantle of the resident Duckburg hero.

He thought of the smiling Paperinik, listening to him babble about half-understood scientific theories and concepts, getting him home safe and sound after rescuing him that night.

He pulled his beak into a smile and continued what Paperinik once did for Duckburg.

* * *

He found a reluctant partner-slash-petty rival in Darkwing Duck. He wasn’t really sure why Darkwing didn’t like him, he was just happy to have someone who would have his back when dealing with difficult villains. At least Darkwing set the pettiness aside when they worked back to back – though they did get into a little spat when Darkwing called him his sidekick.

(And Launchpad also knew Darkwing’s civilian identity? As he knew Fenton’s? How did he ended up being the two resident heroes’ secret keeper?)

As he fought the fourth weather-based villain this week and exchanged banter with Darkwing, he wondered what it was like if he had had to fight alone for years to come. He wondered how lonely it had been for Paperinik.

* * *

The Moonlanders’ invasion came to a stop when their leader was arrested, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t unrest, still. The Earthlings were distrustful of the Moonlanders, and a faction of the Moonlanders believed Penumbra to be a traitor and declared loyalty to Lunaris. Later on, this was the faction that kept growing, that Fenton would struggle to quash even with Darkwing and Launchpad’s help.

The flash of a man fighting like a blur of naval hurricane danced in his eyes like a rising memory from the deep recesses of his mind. He turned, half expecting Paperinik to be there, and saw no one.

Gizmoduck fought, still.

* * *

Paperinik came back without fanfare.

Fenton always thought, if he were to come back, it would be in a flurry of punches and kicks, surrounded by purple aliens that once almost got Fenton. Instead he came quietly like creeping fog by the sea, felling grunts that had levelled a gun at Fenton and Darkwing with a single shot from his grappling hook. The only reason Fenton even knew he was there was because of the sound of a body falling and a gun clattering to the ground.

He whirled, saw the familiar cape and cowl, the iconic hat. His mind flashed back to the way Paperinik laughed at his joke while he perched on his shoulders. “PK…?” he called softly.

Paperinik landed lightly on his feet and smiled at them. “Hey,” he greeted, his voice the same soothing baritone from Fenton’s faded memories. Like before, there was something nagging Fenton, about how the voice didn’t seem to quite match the person.

“Is that really you?” Fenton asked.

“The one and only,” Paperinik answered lightly. “Busy night today, huh?”

“Busy night – I guess, but that’s not important. Where have you been?” Fenton asked, wheeling closer to Paperinik, and oh god, he was so short. Was it his suit, or was he really that small? Paperinik had always seemed big in more ways than one, and it was bizarre to tower over him, even though Paperinik’s mere presence seemed to take up room that Fenton occupied.

“Yeah, where have you been?” Darkwing added, but his tone sounded harsher. Fenton glanced and saw him glaring at Paperinik. “Must be nice disappearing for a decade, huh? We don’t need you anyway; we can handle things on our own.”

“No offense, but I literally just saved your lives,” Paperinik pointed out. He sounded unimpressed.

“We had it handled,” Darkwing insisted. “Look, we all know you’re a menace – “

Paperinik cut him off with a bitter laugh. “Oh, of course. How does it feel like to be saved by a menace, Mr. Hero?” he mocked.

“Hey, hey! Settle down, both of you,” Fenton said, getting between the two of them to break the tension. He turned to Darkwing. “PK’s not a menace. He saved a lot of people during his run, me included.”

“The media called him a menace, Gizmo!”

“Oh, right, you’re not from Duckburg,” Fenton muttered. “Look, the thing is, the media _never_ liked PK. He can be pulling survivors off a plane crash site and Channel 00 will still find a way to make it sound like he’s at fault somehow. Residents of Duckburg know better.”

“Angus Fangus had it out for me,” Paperinik snorted. “You two should be prepared, too. One toe out of line, one mistake, and they’ll turn you into villains instead of heroes.”

“But…” Darkwing’s eyes flashed with uncertainty. “We’re helping.”

“They don’t care,” Paperinik shrugged, bitter, but he looked resigned to the fact. He looked at the sky and said, “Look, there’s no point in us dawdling. Are you gonna patrol or what?”

* * *

Paperinik was different.

Maybe it was the decade he’d been missing from the public eye. Someone was bound to change in so much time.

His fight was messier this time, less finesse with his moves and more deadly with his jabs, though the ease with which he used the X-Transformers only seemed to have grown. Fenton got the feeling that he hung back and let Gizmoduck and Darkwing handle villains on purpose, sometimes, with how easily he felled them with a single punch.

“They’re a lot easier than Evronians,” he explained when asked.

“Evro-whuh?” Darkwing tilted his head in visible confusion.

“Evronians. The aliens I fought way back then.” Paperinik grimaced. “Nasty bunch. You _don’t_ want to deal with them, trust me.”

Fenton blinked. “Are these the aliens with the _teeth_ back then?”

“Yep.”

Fenton hissed and turned to Darkwing. “He’s right, you don’t want to deal with them.”

“Oh, come on. The Moonlanders are easy enough to subdue. How bad can these Evro-whatever be?”

Fenton shook his head disapprovingly while Paperinik simply cooed, “You sweet summer child.” He danced away when Darkwing threw him a sloppy punch.

* * *

Something in Fenton slowed down at the sight of Paperinik. The old hero worship had dissipated, a little, after seeing him openly joking with Darkwing and making a few blunders of his own. But with Paperinik being the one with more experience, he found himself stepping back and letting the older hero take the lead.

He wasn’t even aware of it until Darkwing looked at him strangely, one day, after they felled yet another weather-based villain together. Paperinik had broken the villain’s hurricane-inducing machine and Darkwing had been the one to throw the winning strike, with Fenton mostly offering assistance when needed.

“What are you doing there, just standing around doing nothing?” he asked pointedly. “You told me you’re not anyone’s sidekick. Why is it that that’s all you’ve been doing lately?”

Fenton blinked at him. “It’s… not?”

“It is,” Darkwing insisted. He glanced at Paperinik, who was goading the villain into yelling at him and grinned lazily when the bonds around his limbs stopped him from lashing at the old hero. Darkwing leaned into Fenton’s space and hissed, “You were doing fine before he came back. Did he say anything to you?”

“I – no?”

“He hasn’t said anything? He’s not belittling you or anything, is he?”

“Wha – no!” Fenton shook his head. “He’s been an exemplary hero. Vigilante. Whatever. But he hasn’t done anything to me.”

Darkwing stared into his eyes, and Fenton stilled at the intensity of his gaze. Darkwing took a deep breath, sighed, and spoke lowly, “Then get out of his shadows.”

Fenton blinked mutely, and Darkwing walked away to help Paperinik haul the villain to the nearest police station.

* * *

Launchpad walked in on them chatting as they glanced around the city atop a building, holding paper bags and smiling brightly to them.

“Hey, DW, Gizmo, PK! I got you guys sandwiches!”

“Thanks, Launchpad,” Paperinik said, taking a paper bag.

“Gasp! He knows my name!”

“Launchpad, you literally walked in on me taking off the suit. Of course I know who you are.”

Fenton whipped his head to Paperinik so quickly his neck hurt. “He walked in on you?!”

“Wow, LP, I thought what we have is special,” Darkwing teased, but he, too, glanced at both Launchpad and Paperinik in interest.

“It’s really not special,” Paperinik said. “Launchpad knows everyone who’s who.” His eyes met Darkwing’s and Fenton’s, and Fenton knew immediately that they decided then and there that Launchpad was to be protected at all cost.

Launchpad rubbed his neck. “Yeah, but it’s no big deal. And I’m sorry for walking in on you.”

“It’s okay, you know to knock now. Besides,” Paperinik added, tone suspiciously casual as he glanced at Fenton and Darkwing, “it’s not like I don’t know who you are.”

“Wait, what?” Darkwing rounded in on him. Paperinik held his gaze for a moment, then an impish grin stretched over his beak, one that clearly screamed _I know more than you_.

“Okay, back up, what?” Darkwing repeated. “How did – I made sure I keep a tight lid on it!”

“You really did, don’t worry about it,” Paperinik said. His finger traced the greenish round screen in his X-Transformer meaningfully. “I won’t spill.”

“Whuh – “ Darkwing turned to Fenton. “Why are you not panicking about this?”

“Darkwing, practically everyone in my block knows I’m Gizmoduck,” Fenton said patiently.

“ _How even_ – “

“You really don’t have to worry, DW, PK won’t tell a soul,” Launchpad assured.

“Okay, but it seems unfair that he knows who we are but we don’t know who he is,” Darkwing argued.

“He’s someone trustworthy,” Launchpad said again.

“Well, I don’t know that,” Darkwing grumbled.

Paperinik hummed. “Maybe someday I’ll tell you,” he said, tone light, and grinned again when Darkwing threw him a murderous look.

* * *

Fenton watched his fellow heroes fight and tentatively stepped up, coming out of the proverbial shadows and into the light, and found himself holding more steadily than he thought he would.

He saw Darkwing grinning in satisfaction at him, Launchpad cheering in the distance, and Paperinik, staring at him with an open mouthed smile and a glitter in his eyes that was both awe and relief.

Fenton wondered why he ever faded into the background in the first place.

* * *

It happened in a dark and stormy night, because of course it did. All the dramatic things always did, and Fenton hated it for it.

For once, the weather wasn’t caused by yet another weather-based villain – and good riddance for that, Duckburg always seemed to have a supply for one and frankly it was getting a bit ridiculous at this point. It was gravity-based one this time, and Fenton had to give her points for creativity. At least Fenton could still move easily, since he was equipped with jets to fly with, and Paperinik, practically the veteran with the most versatility among them, had also found a way to swing around and use his X-Transformer to fly about. Darkwing found himself scrambling in panic for a while, but he had since found his footing and had started to help Fenton and Paperinik round on the villain.

The villain’s stark red eyes glinted, and she pressed a button on the gravity-defying machine that had them pulled up to the sky instead of the ground and suddenly, they were pulled to the side instead. Both Fenton and Paperinik adjusted their flight to accommodate for the changing gravity, while Darkwing landed on a window and caught himself when he slipped on the wet glass, growled, and shot a grappling hook to a street lamp and swung back into the fray. He swung up to the villain, readying a punch.

And then she pressed another button, right when Darkwing hung in the quiet moment when his momentum no longer carried him up but gravity had yet to reclaim him, and then he plummeted to the ground.

Fenton gasped, but before he could move Paperinik’s extendable hand caught Darkwing and plopped him safely on the asphalt. In the blur of rushing rainwater, the villain came to him and lifted a hand protected by a gauntlet to hit Fenton. He realized it too late, and closed his eyes to ready himself for the oncoming pain.

Instead of that, something pushed him away, and then there was a sickening crunch, and gravity pulled yet another way and they fell to the stars instead of the ground below. Fenton opened his eyes with a gasp and realized the villain was getting away and readied himself to give chase.

And then gravity reversed again and they fell the correct way down.

Fenton caught himself and steadied in the air, but Paperinik fell like stone. Darkwing screamed something below, too far away for Fenton to hear, and for the longest split second Fenton’s thoughts were muffled with confusion. Why wasn’t Paperinik moving? His X-Transformer was equipped with jet to let him fly.

And then it clicked, and bile rose in his stomach as he dove to catch the hero.

Paperinik was a blur of black, red, and blue, the white of his feathers practically unseen under the suit he was wearing and the cape that followed his moves. He was silent and unmoving and entirely too still, blurred by the rainwater falling alongside him, and his X-Transformer a dead weight that pulled him faster to the ground.

Fenton caught him too close to the ground and curled around him protectively, skidding on the asphalt and coming to a stop not too far away from Darkwing. Darkwing jumped to his feet and ran to them, heavy wet cape draping behind him. He took off the cape with a single motion and fell to his knees by their side.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, that doesn’t look good at all,” he muttered to himself.

Fenton felt growing dread in his chest. “What – “ he moved so he could hold Paperinik better, supporting him in his arm and looking down into his face, and felt his breath hitch in panic. “No, no, no, no…”

Paperinik was a dead weight in his arms, eyes closed and beak ajar, unmoving. He was still breathing, but it was shallow, and his hat was nowhere to be found, having fallen somewhere – maybe in the sky. There was pink in his head that trickled down to Gizmoduck’s chest, and Fenton wondered if it would be red without the rainwater.

Tires skidded by their side, and Launchpad stepped out, getting drenched in seconds. He gasped as he took in the sight in front of him.

“We have to take him to the hospital,” Launchpad said.

Miraculously, that seemed to have careened Paperinik back to the land of the living. He opened his eyes, barely even a sliver, and groaned loudly. His voice sounded off, like two voices laid out over one another. “No… they’ll know.”

“This isn’t something we can handle on our own!” Launchpad protested. “Junior Woodchuck’s first aid training doesn’t cover this!”

To Fenton’s surprise, a voice drifted from the X-Transformer, tinny and full of static. “Old cape, your vitals’ reading is not good. You need to – “ the voice died, and the X-Transformer sparked, finally showing signs of abuse after the crash. Apparently, Fenton hadn’t protected Paperinik as thoroughly as he’d hoped.

“Ah, phooey,” Paperinik said, his voice turned scratchy, the unique voice that could only belong to one person and one person only.

Fenton took a deep breath. “I think… I think I know who you are,” he said, softly.

“Can’t keep it a secret with voice like this,” Paperinik – Donald – breathed. “Of course the modulator broke.” His eyelids fluttered. “Can’t… let the kids… know…” He coughed. “Tell… I love ‘em…”

“Donald,” Fenton called urgently. “Donald, do you trust me?”

Donald moved a little, seemingly to nod, but stopped himself before he could. Instead, he croaked weakly, “Yes.”

“Good. Tell them that yourself. We’ll make sure you’re okay.”

Donald blinked at him, once, twice, then closed his eyes and didn’t open it anymore. Fenton frantically checked his vitals with Gizmoduck’s scanning system – he was alive, still, but critical.

Okay. Okay. He could make this work.

“Launchpad, do you have anything he can change into?” he asked. Upon Launchpad’s nod, he lifted Donald gingerly and went to the car. “Okay, change his clothes. I’ll fly him to the nearest hospital after this.” He let Launchpad take hold of Donald, pausing when Launchpad took off Donald’s mask. He seemed so small this way, so helpless. Fenton wondered briefly if this is how he felt, looking at little Fenton all those years ago cowering as Evronians attacked.

He looked away to give Donald any semblance of privacy and turned to Darkwing. “DW, do you have a car?”

“Uh, yes?”

“Okay. Okay.” Fenton took a deep breath. “I want you to crash it.”

“What?!”

“For cover,” Fenton explained. “If you crash into me in suit, we can keep it silent, and we can pretend Donald’s wound is because of you. Mr. McDuck may get mad but Donald will know and he can help make sure things will turn out okay.”

Darkwing blinked at him, then his gaze turned steely and he nodded. “I’ll get my car. Where do we meet up later?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll come to you.” Fenton turned to Launchpad. “Is he ready?”

“Yeah. It’s a bit weird to see him without the hat,” Launchpad said.

Fenton took Donald off Launchpad’s arms – he was so small in his hold, and Fenton found the welling panic push up. It was wrong, wrong, wrong to see him like this, unmoving and frail and much, much too mortal. “I’ll be quick.”

He dropped Donald off to the nearest hospital and notified Mr. McDuck, promising to be there later as his civilian identity, and took off to Darkwing. They crashed his car, and Fenton got out of the Gizmoduck suit and Darkwing out of his own costume.

“I’m Drake,” Darkwing had told him distractedly as he tossed his wet clothes to his home.

“Cool, I’m Fenton,” Fenton told him as he tossed the last piece of his suit into his duffel back and tossed it into Drake’s car. “Let’s go.”

They drove with the banged up, slightly smoking car, driving just a little under the speed limit and reaching the hospital quickly. Mr. McDuck was already there by that point, along with Della Duck, Launchpad, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby. Fenton gulped and walked closer.

“What is going on?!” Mr. McDuck practically roared. “I got a call from Gizmoduck that Donald got in the hospital.”

“Um,” Drake spoke up. Fenton had to give him credit; if he was the one taking the blame he wouldn’t have had the guts to speak up. “Hi. Uh. I… accidentally hit him with my car?”

Mr. McDuck rounded on him and Drake squeaked, “I’m sorry! It was an accident, I swear!”

“Mr. McD, we should get inside and see how Donald is,” Launchpad broke in, steering Mr. McDuck away.

“You can go ahead, Uncle Scrooge, I got things handled here,” Della said, looking murderous. Drake gulped, and Fenton immediately stepped ahead to put himself between them.

“Um, I know this is a hospital, but should we really get violent here?” Webby, bless her heart, asked. “I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose, and Uncle Donald probably wouldn’t want you to get violent either.”

Dewey looked up at met Drake’s eyes the same moment Huey met Fenton’s, and there was a glint in their eyes that Fenton recognized but couldn’t put a finger to. They both took Della’s hand and somehow managed to coax her inside, all while Louie eyed them one by one, cycling between his brothers and the adults around him, with a glint in his eyes that made Fenton wary for a reason he couldn’t entirely point at.

The doctors had taken care of Donald’s surgery at that point, and at one point a doctor assured them that Donald would live and was expected to recover fully, though he would need to be monitored since head injuries could have long lasting effects. Fenton found himself gulping, guilt pooling in his stomach. That should have been him, in that hospital bed. Donald took that blow for him, and the person responsible for it was still at large.

Drake clapped his shoulder and held on tightly. “We’ll get her,” he said, voice low and steady, and Fenton nodded.

* * *

Donald woke the next morning. Fenton was in the room, having been given watch duty while Della corralled the children to the hospital’s cafeteria for breakfast with Mr. McDuck. Drake was with him, as was Launchpad.

Fenton found himself scrambling to Donald’s side when he groaned. “You’re awake,” he whispered.

“Wha’ happened?” Donald asked, voice hoarse. “Ugh, it’s the hospital. I feel like something died in my mouth.”

Drake came along with a glass of water, putting a bendy straw in. “Here, sip slowly,” he said. “Gizmoduck got you here in time. And, uh,” he glanced at the door, “well, the story is that I hit you with my car.”

“You dick,” Donald slurred, the painkiller likely loosening his tongue. But there was a smile in his face. “And after I keep your secret, too.”

“We know your secret now, too, so we’re even.”

“No. You hit me. You dick.” Donald let out a small laugh, and he sipped the water Drake offered him.

“I’m so glad you’re awake now,” Launchpad said, teary eyed.

“Do the kids know?” Donald asked again.

“No,” Fenton answered. “At least, I’m sure they don’t.”

“I do.”

They whirled to the door, and saw Louie standing there, closing the door with a soft click. He walked closer to the bed, took out a can of Pep, opened it, and sipped. “About you being Paperinik. I know,” he said after a moment.

Donald blinked at him. “…how?”

“I saw you get into the houseboat, and when I sneaked in you still had the mask on,” Louie said. “The others don’t know. I was awake because I needed to pee and then I went to get water, and saw. If you don’t want them to know, then I won’t tell them, but I want to know when you get out.”

Donald blinked again. “I don’t want you knowing because I don’t want you worrying.”

“Too late, Uncle Donald. Promise me you’ll let me know when you get out.”

Donald stared and nodded. “Okay.”

Louie put his Pep on the bedside table and held Donald’s hand until he fell asleep. When Donald did, he kept his hold and let out a breath.

“I thought you were getting breakfast with the others, Louie,” Fenton said softly.

“I did. I decided to come back early,” Louie said. He turned to look at the three adults with an uncomfortably intense gaze. “Promise me you’ll keep my uncle safe when he’s out there.”

Drake coughed. “Now, what makes you think we can – “ he faltered.

Louie’s gaze grew more intense.

“We promise,” Fenton said, breaking the tense silence that followed.

Louie stared at them one by one, as if trying to decide if he could trust them. “Okay,” he said at last, and laid his head on the bed and proceeded to fall asleep in mere seconds.

* * *

The police station would find a gravity-based villain the next night, stuck to their ceiling with her own creation with instructions on how to get her off attached to the gravity machine she made that had been put by the door, on the ground.

It was signed with Darkwing’s signature logo and Gizmoduck’s _G_.

* * *

It took a long time, but eventually Paperinik was back in the streets, decked in the black, red, and blue, the white of his feathers practically unseen under the suit he was wearing and the cape that followed his moves. There was an almost permanent green glint in the newly repaired X-Transformer that had been periodically present before, with a voice that kept giving advices to Paperinik.

“Uno, I’m fine,” Paperinik said in exasperation. His voice was back in the soothing baritone that didn’t entirely suit him; having heard Donald Duck speak, Fenton understood why.

“You are recovering from a head injury and should be monitored in case a symptom appears,” the voice – Uno, apparently – said with almost a mechanical smoothness that belied the concern underneath. “Darkwing Duck, Gizmoduck, please tell Paperinik to keep it easy for now.”

“Uh,” Darkwing said, staring at the X-Transformer. “Keep it easy for now.”

“Uno’s the one who told me who you are.”

Uno ignored Darkwing’s squawked _what_ and Fenton’s _how_. “Don’t worry, other people won’t know. I am, after all, a very advanced A.I.”

“He’s my friend and my partner,” Paperinik said with a grin.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Fenton asked. “Head injuries are… tricky.”

“I’ll be fine. I have Uno looking out for me,” Paperinik said, holding up his X-Transformer and showing off the green circular screen that displayed the face of a duck, awash in green. Uno inclined his head – never mind the fact that the screen only displayed a head – and Fenton inclined his back in turn. “Besides, I _am_ taking it easy. I’ll just help you guys keep an eye out; you can handle things okay.”

Darkwing gave an easy grin. “Of course we do. We always have things handled.” He glanced to the side. “I’ll start patrolling this way. I’ll give you two a heads up if I run into trouble, but I’ll probably be okay.” He ran off the ledge of the building and jumped, landing easily on another building and darting down to the ground where Fenton knew he had parked his bike.

“I should go, too,” Fenton said, turning the other way. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, like I said, I have Uno,” Paperinik said.

“Okay, then.”

“Hey, Fenton?” Paperinik called, and when Fenton turned, his gaze was all Donald, soft and grateful. “Thanks again for saving me.”

“You would have done the same,” Fenton said, dismissing it with a shrug and an easy smile.

Donald’s gaze somehow grew more intense and soft at the same time. “I’m glad you stepped up, Fenton.”

And Fenton, covered from head to toe in brilliant white, the helmet on his head keeping him safe and the brown of his feather practically unseen under the glint of the white and the sharp red in his chest, straightened up. Gizmoduck stood, tall and full and proud, confident in his abilities, realized at last that he had long since stepped away from the shadows of other people’s fame and capabilities, a full fledged hero of his own who took too long to realize his wings had unraveled from the cocoon and had been ready to fly for so long.

“Of course,” Gizmoduck said with a smile. “See you later, Paperinik.”

**Author's Note:**

> a bit of something i wrote because i wanted to write something for my boy fenton.
> 
> canon is taken in broad strokes. it's my city now.
> 
> hope you enjoyed this! also, come yell at me at my tumblr. [trash-raccoon](https://trash-raccoon.tumblr.com/) for my main blog and [twilighteve-writes](https://twilighteve-writes.tumblr.com/) for my writing blog.


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